Semiconductor Optical Amplifier (SOA)-Fiber Ring Laser and Its Application to Stress Sensing

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DOI: 10.4236/opj.2011.14027    6,737 Downloads   12,677 Views  Citations

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ABSTRACT

We have developed a novel optical fiber ring laser using a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) as the gain medium, and taking advantage of polarization anisotropy of its gain. The frequency difference of the bi-directional laser is controlled by birefringence which is introduced in the ring laser cavity. The beat frequency generated by combining two counter-propagating oscillations is proportional to the birefringence, the fiber ring laser of the present study is, therefore, applicable to the fiber sensor. The sensing signal is obtained in a frequency domain with the material which causes the retardation change by a physical phenomenon to be measured. For the application to stress sensing, the present laser was investigated with a photoelastic material.

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Y. Takahashi, S. Sekiya and T. Suemune, "Semiconductor Optical Amplifier (SOA)-Fiber Ring Laser and Its Application to Stress Sensing," Optics and Photonics Journal, Vol. 1 No. 4, 2011, pp. 167-171. doi: 10.4236/opj.2011.14027.

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